49th St 246-0220. Nightly, except Sundays, at 8. Matinées Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2.) . . . ME AND MY GIRL: Jim Dale starring In an infelicitously rehabilitated British musical out of the thirties. (Marquis, Broadway at 45th St. 246-0102 Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8. Matinées Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2, and Sundays at 3.) . . . LES MISÉRABLES: The real stars of this musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel are John Napier's settings and David Hersey's lighting. (Broadway Theatre, Broadway at 53rd St. 239-6200. Nightly, ex- cept Sundays, at 8. Matinées Saturdays at 2.) . . . NUNSENSE: A musical comedy by Dan Gog- gin. (Douglas Fairbanks, 432 W. 42nd St. 239-4321 Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8. Matinées Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2, and Sundays at 3.) . . . OIL CITY SYMPHONY: Mike Craver, Mark Hardwick, Michelle Horman, and Mary Murfitt, gifted and sophisticated singers and instrumentalists, appear as a quartet of dedicated hicks reuniting at their small-town high school in this very funny musical. (Circle in the Square Downtown, 159 Bleecker St. 254-6330. Tuesdays through Fridays at 8; Saturdays at 7 and 10; and Sundays at 7. Matinées Sundays at 3.) . THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: The much ballyhooed Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is fun-if you're not bothered by theatre that cares not a whit for words and contains not one ghost of an idea. Except for the sets (by Maria Björnson), everything about the show is neg- ligible. (Majestic, 245 W. 44th St. 239-6200. Nightly, except Sundays, at 8. Matinées Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2.)... SARA- FINA!: This South African musical, an explo- sion of talent, was conceived, written, and directed by Mbongeni Ngema, who also, with Hugh Masekela, composed and arranged the score The acting, dancing, and singing, to a local form of popular music called Mbaqanga, are a wonder. (Cort, 138 W. 48th St. 239- 6200. Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8. Matinées Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2, and Sundays at 3.). . . STEEL MAGNOLIAS: This first play by Robert Harling is set in a beau- ty shop in a small town in Louisiana and con- sists mainly of the often amusing, wisecrack- ing chatter of the proprietress, her assistant, and four steady customers. (Lucille Lortel, 121 Christopher St. 924-8782. Tuesdays through Fridays at 8; Saturdays at 6 and 10; and Sundays at 7:30. Matinées Sundays at 3.) MISCELLANY SKIN: A STATE OF BEING-A new theatre piece con- ceived and directed by Ping Chong (La Mama Annex, 66 E. 4th SL 475-7710. Wednesday through Sunday at 7:30. Closes Jan 22.) ICE SHow-The "Ice Capades," with Jill Wat- son, Peter Oppegard, and some skating California Raisins. (Madison Square Garden. 563-8300. Jan. 19-20 at 7:30; Jan. 21 at 11, 3, and 7:30; Jan 22 at 1:30; and Jan 25 at 7:30. Through Jan. 29.) DANCE NEW YORK CITY BALLET-Jan. 17 at 8: "Raymon- da Variations," "Afternoon of a Faun," "An- tique Epigraphs," and "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue." . . . fJI Jan. 18 at 8: "Raymonda Variations," "Bugaku," and "The Concert." .. fJI Jan. 19 at 8: "Jewels." . . . fJI Jan. 20 at 8: "The Waltz Project," "Afternoon of a Faun," "Antique Epigraphs," and "Sym- phony In Three Movements." . . . fJI Jan. 21 at 2: "Divertimento No. 15," "Ivesiana," and "The Concert."... fJI Jan. 21 at 8: "Inter- play," "Afternoon of a Faun," "Antique Epi- graphs," and "The Concert."... fJI Jan. 22 at 1: "Interplay," "Bugaku," and "Sym- phony in Three Movements." . . . fJI Jan. 22 at 7: "Jewels."... fJI Jan 24 at 8: "Donizetti Variations," "Bugaku," and "The Concert." . . . fJI Jan. 25 at 8: "Raymonda Variations," "The Four Seasons," and a work performed by students from the School of American Bal- let (A benefit performance; for tickets, call 870-0600.) (New York State Theatre 870- 5570 Through Feb. 26.) MOISEYEV DANCE COMPANy-A hundred and thir- ty-five dancers and musicians from Moscow. (Radio City Music Hall, Sixth Ave at 50th St 757-3100. Jan. 17 at 7:30: Jan. 18-20 at 8; Jan. 21 at 2 and 8; Jan. 22 at 3; and Jan. 24-25 at 8. Through Jan. 29.) CREACH/KoESTER-A two-week engagement by this two-man contemporary dance team. (Dance Theatre Workshop, 219 W. 19th St. 924-0077. Thursdays through Saturdays at 8, and Sundays at 3. Through Jan. 29.) "WOMAN WORKs"-Seven dance companies and two soloists The groups of MONICA LEVY and RISA JAROS LOW: Jan. 17 at 8, and Jan. 21 at 2 and 8.... SALLY GROSS'S and RUBY SHANG'S troupes: Jan. 18 at 8. . . . fJI The companies of BEBE MILLER and ANNA SOKOLOW: Jan. 19 at 8, and Jan. 22 at 2 and 7:30... BEVERLY BLOSSOM, MAEDÉE DUPRÈS, and ANNABELLE GAMSON and her ensemble: Jan. 20 at 8 (Joyce Theatre, 175 Eighth Ave, at 19th St. 242- 0800.) NIGHT LIFE (A highly arbitrary listing, in which bold-face type is used to pick out a few of the more nota- ble performers in town.... fJI Musicians and night-club proprietors live complicated lives that are subject to last-minute change; it is therefore always advisable to call ahead.) ALGON9UIN HOTEL, 59 W 44th St (840-6800)- HARRY CONNICK, JR., a twenty-one-year-old New Orleans-born pianist and singer who likes to wear chalk-striped bop-era suits and wide, splashy ties and to refashion old songs in the style of T Monk, has taken up residence in the starchy old Oak Room He plays and sings (he has a languid, behind-the-beat way of singing) at nine-fifteen Tuesdays and Wednesdays and at nine-fifteen and eleven- fifteen Thursdays through Saturdays. Dining. BALLROOM, 253 W 28th St. (244-3005)-A big, soigné cabaret on the edge of Chelsea, in the heart of the fur and fashion-student districts. HELEN SCHNEIDER, a rock singer turned cabaret chanteuse, sings an all-Kurt Weill program at nine Wednesdays and Thursdays and at nine and eleven Fridays and Saturdays. BIRDLAND, 2745 Broadway, at 105th St. (749- 2228)-A fledgling jazz operation that takes its name from a long-gone midtown pleasure dome (1949-65). It's a cool person's kind of habitat, with pastel walls and a high ceiling and some potted vegetation. A quintet led by trumpeter (and Class of '88 Jazz Messenger) PHILlf HARPER and drummer (and former Betty Carter sideman) WI NARD HARPER holds forth Jan. 20-21. Music from nine Sundays through Thursdays and from nine-thirty Fridays and Saturdays Dining. BLUE NOTE, 131 W. 3rd St., near Sixth Ave (475- 8592)-A really blue but not really New York jazz club; the idea for the brass plaques that are engraved with the names of visiting jazz stars and embedded in the blue tables appears to have been borrowed from Holly- wood. The MODERN JAZZ 9UARTET, a group that has produced delicate, noble chamber jazz for over thirty-five years (with only one person- nel change: CONNIE KAY, the drummer, replaced Kenny Clarke in 1955), will be around Jan. 17 -22. OSCAR PETERSON, who plays a handful of notes for everyone that JOHN LEWIS, the MJ.Q.'s pianist, sets down, begins a week- long run on Jan. 24. First set at nine. Dining. BOTTOM LINE, 15 W. 4th St., at Mercer St. (228- 6300)-On the east side of the building, behind a dusty display window, there's a New York Post review of a Santana concert that took place here circa 1978; curatorial neglect seems to have made it a permanent exhibit Inside, the COWBOY JUN.I(IES, a much- heralded neo-country band from Toronto, perform on Jan. 17. On their new record, "The Trinity Session," which they made for two hundred dollars in a Toronto church, the Cowboy Junkies rework numbers by Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and blackhearted New York cowpoke Lou Reed, and do original material as well; the instrumentation is spare (not one more pedal-steel twang than nec- 7 essary), the sIngIng (by Margo Timmins) is exceedingly quiet, and the results are largely colorless. The Cowboy Junkies treat country music with High Church solemnity, and just about succeed in taking the juice out of it. The FEELlES, who play here Jan. 20-21, share with the Cowboy Junkies an affection for Lou Reed (they do his "What Goes On" on their new album, "Only Life") and an in- terest in minimalist techniques. They aim to trance you out with their fervently strummed, chiming guitars, insistent rhythms, and vague vocals. A Feelies song rarely describes anything other than its own movement toward some sort of folk-rock "higher plane," a nice if somewhat bland place (a subúrb of rock-and-rol] Heaven) where the groove is about all that matters Shows Sundays through Thursdays at eight and eleven, and Fridays and Saturdays at eight-thirty and eleven-thirty. Burgers, fries, and other things to make your heart beat faster. BRADLEY'S, 70 University Pl., at 11th St (228- 6440)-A neighborhood bar, tucked between a D' Agostino supermarket and a green- grocery. In 1969, when Bradley Cunningham and a partner bought it, it was called the Stirrup. Its light is distinctive, something between dim generic tavern light and refined haze; its patrons are famously gabby; its piano, which Pau] Desmond bequeathed to Mr. Cunningham, has been played by many first-rate musicians, including Jimmy Rowles, Tommy Flanagan, and Dave McKenna. RED MITCHELL, a stellar bassist who plays piano on the side (in the late forties, before he joined Woody Herman, he was the pianist in Chubby Jackson's big band), will be here with pianist KENNY BARRON through Jan. 21 and with JOHN CAMPBELL on Jan. 22. Music from nine-forty-five. Dining. CARLOS I, 432 Sixth Ave., at 10th St. (982- 3260)- The "great savory pot au feu called New Y or k" (in the words of Duke Ellington) has loads of West Indian restaurants, but not too many that feature the likes of mellow- toned guitarist (and Ellington favorite) KENNY BURRELL. He leads his band-a three-guitar quintet-Jan. 17-22. JAY MC SHANN, a blues- minded pianist who arrived in New York from Kansas City forty-seven years ago with a big band that included Charlie Parker, brings in a quintet on Jan. 24. Music from nine-thirty. CARLYLE HOTEL, Madison Ave. at 76th St. (744- 1600)- The Café Carlyle, a small, well- upholstered room decorated with quaint Mar- ce] Vertès murals (a nude at her easel, a leap- ing poodle), is a place where time pretty much stands still. GEORGE SHEARING, the London-born pianist famous for his cool, light touch and his bons mots and the jaunty way he sings "You're the Pits" ("like the late ZaSu, you're the pits"), holds forth at ten and midnight Tuesdays through Saturdays CAT CLUB, 76 E. 13th St. (505-0090)- This room, which caters to thrash-metal buffs and cooler heads on weeknights, opens its doors on Sundays to swing-music fans, most of whom come to Lindy The dancers are young, old, semi-pro, one hundred per cent amateur, happy, earnest, in love; shoe styles (men's) run from white bucks to clodhoppers to streamlined patent-leather jobs. The New York Swing Dance Society organizes these meetings, and on Jan. 22 it brings in an eighteen-piece band led by AL COBBS (a trom- bonist and arranger who worked with Lunce- ford and Armstrong in the forties) and HOWARD JOHNSON (a saxophonist and pianist whose first big job was with Benny Carter, sixty years ago). Music from eight to midnight. DELTA 88, 332 Eighth Ave., at 26th St. (924- 3499)-A long, ramb]ing bar and restaurant with a white-trash-chicken-shack theme. The decorator went kind of hog-wild with all the old filling-station and soft-drink signs and the collection of hubcaps and the dime-store portrait of the King and the display of dozer caps and the shingle from the taxidermist in Spanish Fort, Alabama-but it's a friendly enough place There's live music most nights, including gospel on Mondays, zydeco on Thursdays, and country (with KRISTI ROSE & THE MIDNIGHT WALKERS) on Fridays. Shows after nine. Chicken-fried steak, deep-fried craw- dads (a.k.a. Cajun popcorn), and other exotic Southern fare. EAGLE TAVERN, 355 W. 14th St, at Ninth Ave (924-0275)-An Irish bar in the meat-pack- ing district, not too far from the boondocks. The back room, which is trimmed with sea-